patrick-mahomes.jpg
Getty Images

The Kansas City Chiefs on Sunday were eliminated from playoff contention. Their 10-year streak of making the playoffs is over. Their nine-year streak of winning the AFC West has come to an end. And their streak of making the AFC title game in every year of Patrick Mahomes' career and the Super Bowl in each of the previous three seasons are finished as well.

The Chiefs were eliminated by virtue of their loss to the Los Angeles Chargers, the Buffalo Bills' victory over the New England Patriots, the Jacksonville Jaguars' win over the New York Jets and the Houston Texans' win over the Arizona Cardinals. They came into the day with only the slimmest of playoff hopes, but those hopes were dashed as they fell 16-13 in a tightly contested, defense-dominated game against their division rivals. 

The loss was Kansas City's seventh one-score defeat of the season, with the Chiefs continuing to struggle in close contests just a year after dominating such games by going 11-0 in them during the 2024 regular season. The Chiefs were at one point 5-3 and seemingly recovered from their cold start to the season, but they lost five out of six games to fall all the way out of contention.

Worse yet, Mahomes limped off the field late in the game with what appeared to be a serious knee injury. After undergoing an MRI, the team officially announced later on Sunday that the three-time Super Bowl champion suffered a torn ACL. In the announcement, Kansas City noted that Mahomes and the team are currently exploring surgical options. 

Mahomes was down and in pain for several minutes and eventually had to be helped into the locker room by the training staff. Gardner Minshew entered in his place and played out the final drive for the Chiefs, only to be intercepted on his final pass attempt of the game, sealing both the loss and the Chiefs' fate. 

Just before the official news came out of Mahomes' torn ACL, he posted a message on X that seemed to indicate the severity of the injury. 

"Don't know why this had to happen," Mahomes posted. "And not going to lie it's hurts. But all we can do now is Trust in God and attack every single day over and over again. Thank you Chiefs kingdom for always supporting me and for everyone who has reached out and sent prayers. I Will be back stronger than ever."